The backstory to Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter

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The Celtic Star

·20 Juli 2025

The backstory to Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter

We’d often meet at the restaurant at the services near the Kincardine bridge, with David Potter venturing out of Fife by crossing the Forth to meet up with myself and fellow Celtic author and Celtic Star writer Matt Corr…

The late, great Celtic Historian David Potter. Photo Rosemary Potter

During the Covid lockdown I’d met David here several times – the place was closed but we kept our distance and sat on outside benches – where I’d hear all about his plans to put something right by telling the long overdue story of one of Celtic’s most decorated performers Alec McNair, who had somehow become something of a forgotten hero among the Celtic support – who seldom overlook our legends. So David told the story and that’s a wonderful read: Alec McNair- Celtic’s Icicle.

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Alec McNair – Celtic’s Icicle. Available from Celticstarbooks.com

Or the story of one of David’s all time heroes – alongside Jimmy Quinn and Danny McGrain – Willie Fernie and that was also a story David wanted to tell. So Willie Fernie Putting on the Style was next. The first David Potter book I published for David was his biography of another wonderful Celtic player – and as I’d soon discover a wonderful man. Charlie Gallagher – What a Player!

Sometimes I’m asked why we don’t focus on more ‘commercial’ or recent Celtic subjects, perhaps Ange Postecoglou’s time at the club, as that type of book would probably sell more copies than say a book on Alec McNair or Willie Fernie or Charlie Gallagher for instance.

The answer to that is always the same. The intention is to tell Celtic stories that otherwise have not or would not be told and really should be told. Actually David Potter had being doing that off his own back since 1995 when he self-published a book on Celtic’s 1995 Scottish Cup Final win over Airdrie. He never stopped for the rest of his life.

David once told me that other folk play golf so pay annual membership fees. He would instead pay to have his latest Celtic book self-published in the hope that it would reach some Celtic supporters.

So one by one he told the story of the Celtic legends, Patsy Gallacher, Jimmy Quinn, Sunny Jim Young, John Thomson, Jimmy McGrory and so many more. It all adds up to a wonderful contribution to telling the Celtic story and it’s important that this material is not lost to future generations of Celtic supporters.

Jimmy Quinn, image by Celtic Curio

Back to that meeting at Kincardine Bridge services, this time post-Covid, inside the restaurant and it was fish and chips times three and a great few hours talking all things Celtic with David Potter and Matt Corr. We talked about Liam Kelly who was working on a history of Celtic in the Second World War, while Matt mentioned his plans to write about Celtic in the 1930s, a decade that fascinated him and indeed many Celtic supporters.

David Potter seldom if ever had a bad word to say about anyone but there were a few Celtic players from the 1980s that he had particular grievances with and would never be shy in explaining why.

So Champagne Charlie Nicholas – for the way his desire to leave the club derailed in David’e eyes, Celtic’s season and of course the biggest villain – he who must not be named – for obvious reasons were never going to feature in David Potter’s own list of favourite former Celts. Quite the opposite actually.

We talked more about Celtic in the Eighties and ended up agreeing to publish David Potter’s next book on that decade plus Matt Corr’s idea of researching and writing on Celtic in the Thirties while Liam Kelly was left alone to finish his own book. Liam is still working on it incidentally but is close to the finishing line after having to shelf it for a while. Maybe next year, Liam, there’s no pressure!

Matt being Matt meant that Celtic in the Thirties, to no-one’s surprise, turned out to be two books rather than one! Both however are absolutely brilliant and provide a definitive account of Celtic in that decade that will stand the test of time. A masterpiece in Celtic book publishing. So how do we top that?

David Potter meanwhile was left with the task of putting his jovial Friday afternoon Celtic in the 1980s rants into a book, and how entertaining it has turned out to be. Little did we know that he’d not see it published.

When David passed away almost two years ago I had the task of passing on the sad news to the Celtic support.

Peter Lawwell Celtic CEO is seen during the SPL | Premier League match between Celtic FC and Heart of Midlothian FC at Celtic Park on September 14, 2024 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

A few weeks over 500 attended David Potter’s funeral including Peter Lawwell and Tony Hamilton representing Celtic FC and also Celtic FC Foundation. The members of David’s supporters club asked for permission to attend in matchday attire and David’s widow Rosemary thought that this was a great idea. I had my scarf with me and wore a Lisbon Lion tie, a wee gift from Willie Wallace.

It was a celebration of a life well lived and while Celtic featured prominently so too did cricket, amateur dramatics and so many other aspects of his life including of course his career as a classics teacher at Glenrothes High school.

I remember doing an article a few years ago about a chap who had just been appointed as a Head of Classics at Oxford University. He came from Glenrothes. He discovered Latin and Greek at the High school and now he’s the Head of Department at the top university in Britain. Who did he credit for this?

His teacher. David Potter.

The only classics in Celtic in the Eighties are football related and David covers them all in what was a rollercoaster decade of great highs and also significant challenges for Celtic. Those of you who avidly watched every kick of the ball in that decade will know exactly what I mean.

Rapid Vienna and the European trophy that got away, although thankfully Everton did us a turn in the final. More than one title thrown away and some incredible, joyous days at Hampden. Here’s how Matt Corr summarised Celtic in the Eighties, after spending the last few months editing David’s final book before we send it to the printers this coming week.

Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter. Published by Celtic Star Books on 5 September 2025.

Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter

A decade book-ended by two Scottish Cup finals, reflecting the thrilling rollercoaster of events and emotions which defined Celtic Football Club in the 1980s.

Where the exciting young teams created by Billy McNeill and David Hay captured our hearts as they challenged for honours against the toughest of opposition at home and abroad. Led by inspirational captains, Danny McGrain, Roy Aitken then Paul McStay, we enjoyed so many iconic triumphs as Celtic supporters that decade.

Who can forget those late comebacks to win the Scottish Cup against all odds, with unbelievable strikes from Davie Provan and Frank McGarvey in 1985 then Frank McAvennie’s Centenary double three years later.

Or thrilling last-day title victories, none more so than the Miracle of Love Street in May 1986.

Glorious European nights against Ajax and Sporting Lisbon, and of course, this is Celtic, so there will always be a Partizan Belgrade thrown into the mix.

The fairytale club indeed, but with a few twists in the plot.

In his last work before his untimely death, legendary author and historian David Potter takes the reader step by step on that fascinating journey, recalling in his own inimitable way the triumphs, tragedies and characters involved in that unique chapter of our incredible Celtic story.

David is now very much part of that story, and in May 2024 he was posthumously honoured with the club’s Special Recognition Award, for ‘bringing something exceptional to the Celtic table.’

He was indeed a truly exceptional man, and it is a fitting legacy of work he leaves us.

David Potter, Celtic in the Eighties. Published on 5 September 2025.Pre-order you copy now over at celticstarbooks.com/shop

You can pre-order Celtic in the Eighties now and we’ll make sure you’re among the first to get a copy. As you would expect it’s a hardback, high quality product and one we know will not be available for too long – try getting a copy of David’s The Celtic Rising – that’s mission impossible and we had to print it twice to try to satisfy the demand, unsuccessfully as it turned out.

For both Matt and myself our biggest wish is for Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter to sell out to allow us to pass on David’s earning to Rosemary. He’d like that. And it’s the very least we can do.

You can pre-order Celtic in the Eighties at Celticstarbooks.com/shop

Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter…

Thank you to everyone who has already pre-ordered the late David Potter’s last ever Celtic book, Celtic in the Eighties, which will be published on the fifth day of September by Celtic Star Books. The link to pre-order your copy is below…

Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter, out 5 September 2025. Available to pre-order now.